Officials say woman abused boyfriend's toddler because he wasn't her son

A Pennsylvania woman tied up her boyfriend’s 4-year-old son and forced him to eat laxatives and hot sauce because he was another woman’s child, authorities said.

Danielle Miller, 31, bound the boy at his legs during what she called “playing mermaid,” fed the child a laxative concoction and hot sauce without letting him drink water for long periods of time and kept him barricaded in a closet over a four-month period, the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office said.

Miller also verbally abused the boy, calling him a “[expletive] pig” and told him he had a “stupid, ugly” face, authorities said. She allegedly forced him to stay on a toilet for hours until he defecated. The boy, who is now staying with relatives, suffered cuts, bruises and burns during the abuse.

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“Everybody knows this is just one of the most disgusting cases that we’ve had to see the facts,” Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman said, according to Fox43.com. “And the facts read out of some type of novel. I wish I could say it was some sort of horror novel or a movie.”

Miller was charged with eight felonies, including five counts of aggravated assault. Police also charged the boy’s father, Nathan Duke, 30, with felony counts of endangerment and conspiracy for concealing the abuse and not reporting it to authorities.